Vees complete weekend sweep
A daunting weekend schedule and some more adversity along the way couldn’t slow down the Penticton Vees.
Jonny Tychonick’s power-play goal 1:06 into overtime gave the Vees a 3-2 victory over the Trail Smoke Eaters on Saturday at the South Okanagan Events Centre and a clean sweep of three games in as many nights.
When the dust had cleared, the Vees (29-9-2-3) were still unbeaten in 2018 (7 wins and a tie) and had a share of first place in the Interior Division with the Vernon Vipers.
And the Vees still held three games in hand on the Vipers, who lost 2-1 to the Coquitlam Express on Sunday afternoon.
“We really challenged ourselves to come away with six points, to not have any excuses,” said Vees president, GM and head coach Fred Harbinson. “Once we got through the Thursday night game in Prince George, I thought we handled ourselves well getting proper rest and everything, then a couple of big crowds really helped propel us through the games (against Merritt and Trail).”
The Vees had a strong opening period against Trail with Cassidy Bowes scoring twice in a fourminute span and linemate Jackson Keane assisting on both.
Trail got a big goal by Jeremy Lucchini on the power play with 46 seconds left in the second period to make it 2-1.
“I thought that was the one period on the weekend where we seemed a bit mentally tired,” said Harbinson. “We had some breakdowns that led to some odd-man rushes and fortunately they didn’t convert until that late goal.”
In the third period, Keane jammed home a loose puck in the crease, but the official couldn’t see the puck as he was positioned on the other side of the net and waved the goal off after the puck went in.
“That was a tough call to go against us,” said Harbinson. “I think the way we’re playing, at 3-1, the game is over.”
The call proved costly as Ross Armour deflected in a shot from the blue line to tie the game with just 3:19 left in regulation.
Harbinson said the Vees felt the goal was offside, and that there was a closing-thehand-on-the-puck violation at the start of the play.
“Our guys froze for a split second there thinking it was offside and they end up getting the goal,” said Harbinson.
But Lucchini took an elbowing penalty 25 seconds into overtime and Tychonick’s one-timer from the shot sizzled over the glove of Adam Marcoux to send 4,342 fans on “Pink in the Rink Night” home happy. Owen Sillinger got the primary assist and James Miller notched his second helper of the game.
It capped a remarkable three games for Tychonick, who racked up three goals and eight points.
Adam Scheel made 17 saves while Marcoux made 28. Tychonick, Keane and Bowes were the three stars.
The Vees played without standout forward Dakota Boutin, who joined Penticton’s lengthy injury list after taking a hard openice hit from Zach Zorn in the third period of the 4-1 win over Merritt Friday.
Harbinson said Boutin will be re-evaluated today and he’s not sure if the 20-year-old forward will be available for yet another challenging three-game weekend that sees the Vees go to Powell River on Friday, Cowichan Valley on Saturday and Victoria on Sunday afternoon.
“It was an unnecessary hit, but our guys have to be more prepared in those situations,” Harbinson said. “Dakota was reaching back for the puck and had his head down, but there was no contact with the head. So we’ll see where he is at in the next few days.”
The Vees are hoping to get defenceman Michael Campoli (upper-body) back for the weekend. Defenceman Nicky Leivermann (upper-body) had successful surgery and has rejoined his teammates in Penticton with the hope of being able to play in 2-3 weeks.
Forward Taylor Ward (upper-body) is back practising and is expected to play on the weekend.
“We’re going to be fine with the forwards, but getting Campoli back is big because we’d certainly like to have six healthy D-men for the trip,” said Harbinson.
Tychonick will be playing in the Canadian Junior Hockey League Prospects Game on Tuesday in Mississauga, Ont., but will be back in time for the road trip, Harbinson said.
Tychonick — projected to be a first- or second-round pick in the 2018 NHL draft — will play for Team West in the annual game against Team East.